An average of 20 Canadians died from an opioid overdose every day last year, federal health officials say, despite opioid-related drug toxicity deaths falling 17 per cent from the year before.
The data for 2024 released Wednesday by the Public Health Agency of Canada showed 7,146 deaths were recorded last year. Eighty per cent of those occurred in just three provinces — British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario — although all three jurisdictions saw decreases from 2023.
Increased deaths in 2024 compared to the year prior were reported in Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Newfoundland and Labrador, according to a joint statement from the country’s chief medical officers of health, chief coroners and chief medical examiners.
“Due to colonialization and continued marginalization, many Indigenous communities have also experienced increases in deaths and disproportionate harms, particularly among Indigenous women,” the statement said.
Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island saw “little or no change” in deaths between 2023 and 2024, while all other provinces and territories saw decreases.
Hospitalizations related to opioid poisoning also declined in 2024 by 15 per cent, with 5,514 patients nationwide. There were 24,587 emergency room visits and 36,266 responses by emergency first responders to suspected opioid-related overdoses last year, both also down by about 15 per cent on average.
The statement from health officials noted some provinces and territories believe the decreases in deaths “may be attributable — at least in part — to a shift to lower toxicity of the drug supply, based on drug checking data indicating a decrease in fentanyl concentrations.”
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Fentanyl still accounted for about three-quarters of all opioid-related deaths in 2024, according to the data. While that rate is up from just over 40 per cent in 2016, it appears to have stabilized in recent years.
Between January 2016 and December 2024, a total of 52,544 apparent opioid toxicity deaths were reported, according to federal data.
“In 2024, an average of 20 people died every day from opioid toxicity in Canada, representing a tremendous loss,” Wednesday’s statement said.
“Notably, some regions reported a rise in deaths involving substances other than opioids, such as stimulants or benzodiazepines.”
Overdose deaths in the United States also declined by double digits last year.
An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released in May. That’s down 27 per cent from the 110,000 in 2023 — the largest one-year decline ever recorded.
Public health and drug policy experts have attributed the sharp decline to increased availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, expanded addiction treatment and a shift away from drugs by young people after waves of deaths among older users.
Those experts have also pointed to the growing impact of over US$50 billion in money won through settlements of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers like Purdue Pharma, as well as consulting firms like McKinsey & Company that U.S. states alleged advised drugmakers on how to boost their sales.
Several states have been directing that money toward recovering health-care costs, as well as funding addiction treatment programs, overdose prevention sites, anti-drug education and other initiatives.
The latest such settlement was reached earlier this month between 55 U.S. state and territory attorneys general and Purdue, which agreed along with members of the Sackler family to pay US$7.4 billion. Local governments and individual victims will have until Sept. 30 to approve the settlement.
B.C., which declared a public health emergency for the overdose crisis in 2016, has led several similar class-action lawsuits on behalf of the federal, provincial and territorial governments against drugmakers. It won $150 million from Purdue in a settlement first announced in 2022, and additional lawsuits were certified in court this year.
McKinsey has denied it did any work in Canada to enhance the sale or marketing of opioids. The Canadian lawsuit against the firm alleges Canadian subsidiaries of Purdue and other drugmakers used the same tactics as the American companies McKinsey allegedly advised.
—With files from the Associated Press
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